Olympic Park development: Balfour Beatty just agreed to build two new neighbourhoods in East London
Builder Balfour Beatty has signed a deal to construct 1,500 homes at East Wick and Sweetwater, the next two neighbourhoods to come out of the Olympic Village.
The project, at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, will deliver 450 affordable homes, 530 for private sale and 500 to be rented out under a similar model to the former Athletes' Village.
The project will include everything from apartments and townhouses to mews houses. It also includes a nursery, library and health centre, as well as shops, restaurants, offices, and those all-important "public open spaces".
While Balfour will put in half of the equity required to complete the project – about £35m – housing association Places for People will put up the other half, as part of a 50-50 joint venture. Once it's finished, the pair reckon they can generate about £400m of revenue.
The plan had originally been to construct the two neighbourhoods by 2029, but in July 2013 Boris Johnson announced he was moving the project forward – it's now due to be completed by 2023.
Today Boris Johnson said the project was part of the "most successful and fastest growing city anywhere in Europe, and it is absolutely vital we provide thousands of new houses to allow people to live close to their places of work".
Balfour Beatty chief exec Leo Quinn added that the project will "mark our entry as an investor and developer into the UK's regeneration and housing sector.
"This market is growing and offers significant opportunities in the coming years,"